''A View With A Room' Along The Ancient 'Spice Trail' (photo)

'A View With A Room' (Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

I shot this recently at the ancient Avdat archaeology site, south of Beersheba, Israel where archaeologists believe thousands of Nabateans operated and lived in a thriving community that served as a winery for nearby vinyards, and a "caravanseri" waystation for traders along the ancient "Spice Trail," route from Saudi Arabia and Yemen to ports along the Mediterranean coastline, among them Gaza. I tweaked the image with a Photoshop action called "Pop Ice." (Google it)

'More Koreans Than Israelis Own a Talmud'

A fascinating, almost unbelievable story.

In South Korea there are close to 49 million residents, and they all learnGemara in school (www.ynet.co.il). “We tried to understand why the Jews are such geniuses and we concluded that (it is because) they study Talmud,” explained South Korea’s ambassador to Israel.

Korean Talmud (Photo courtesy of the Embassy of South Korea to Israel)

In a week of renewed terror including a bomb in Jerusalem (with 1 dead, 39 wounded, some still in critical condition) and the returning shelling to the south of Israel (with rockets now reaching the outskirts of Be’er Sheva and Ashdod), as well as a joyous announcement about the Elitzur Ramle basketball team taking the women’s EuroCup final, what’s the big deal about learning Talmud in South Korea?

“We were curious how come the Jews are so successful academically and have a much higher percentage of Nobel Prize winners in all fields… what is their secret?… one of your secrets is studying Talmud,” continued ambassador Young-Sam-Ma. There might be now more (translated) Talmud volumes in South Korean homes than in Israel! In his appearance on Israeli TV he spoke about shared values between the Jewish people and the Koreans such as the place of the family, respect for elders, education and culture. He was impressed with the fact that even in a small kibbutz there is a cultural center with on-going cultural activities.

Read the rest.

American - Israeli Blooz-Rocker Rocks Israeli Army Radio

Lazer Lloyd, a veteran blues-rock guitarist and American immigrant to Israel was recently featured in a live segment aired in Israel Army Radio, "Galatz" (Army Waves).

He and the midday live music show host, Yoav Kutner (himself a veteran local radio host and music maven), are chatting in Hebrew about Lloyd's background, musical influences and the fact that he's a devout Jew, succeeding in what secular Israelis often view that their own "cultural turf."

A bit ragged and out of tune, but what. ever. In any case, good stuff. (Thanks Sandy)

Here's Lloyd from a show at a local venue:


Added bonus: the commercial for a local bank's online services is fun, too...

Israel First to Set Up Field Hospital in Japan

Israeli Defense Forces performing Haiti II? Well, let's hope that whatever they can do will succeed in providing a measure of aid and relief to the Japanese people, enduring such horrible, cataclysmic disasters.

“I don’t know how or why it is that our field hospital is the first,” the ambassador said. “Maybe we moved faster. Maybe it’s because of our experience.”

Read the rest.

Interest Free Loan Funds: A Tale Of Two Families, Two Countries

Collection boxes in a Jerusalem neighborhood for canned good the be distributed to the needy. (Dave Bender: All Rights Reserved)

"While, on the face of it, Atlanta, Ga. and Jerusalem, Israel may not seem to have much in common, one thing both cities unfortunately do share is the growing burden of a tough economy since the onset of the international monetary free-fall in 2007.

"In both countries, hundreds of thousands of people have lost jobs and businesses, with many falling through the cracks in a daily struggle to pay for food, rent, bills, and then the interest on credit cards and bank overdrafts.

“'I had a company, and I grew and grew and grew, but eventually the economy slapped me in the face,'" one Jewish Atlanta-area businesswoman, who requested anonymity, told AJN.

"After seeing her firm lose client after client as the hospitality industry her business served laid off thousands of employees, she finally had no choice but to close down more than a year ago."

Read the rest.

Israeli Newspaper Halts Online Presence for Abducted Soldier

Screenshot of Ma'ariv Hebrew-language daily: "We're halting operations for the sake of Gilad Shalit."

Hamas terrorists abducted Israeli Defense Forces Cpl. Gilad Shalit from an army lookout along the Israeli side of the border with Gaza Israel five years ago, and have not allowed any visits by the International Red Cross or any other humanitarian organization, in contravention of The Geneva Accords on treatment of military prisoners.

From The Jerusalem Post:

At 11:00 AM on Tuesday morning, people throughout the country stopped, observing five minutes of silence in honor of Gilad Schalit.

Rather than the customary one minute of silence, Ofer Ben Tal, one of the organizers for the campaign to free Gilad Schalit, asked the public to stop for five full minutes, one minute for the nearly five years Schalit has been held in captivity by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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"Traffic jams were observed throughout Tel Aviv, as cars stopped in the streets in Schalit's honor.

"'For the past five years, the entire nation has been united in its hearts in the hope that Gilad Schalit will be here with us, healthy and whole,' President Shimon Peres said at Tuesday's Negev Conference in Eilat."

More, including video, is here.

Jerusalem: Night Flight (Photo)

'Jerusalem: Night Flight'
(Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Pillar and supporting cables of Jerusalem's Calatrava-designed "Bridge of Chords," that supports a bridge for the city's light rail trams, glow orange against a darkening sunset by dramatic lighting from below.

Israeli Firm to Give Bionic Vision to the Blind

Nano-Retina, founded in 2009, aims to make a science-fiction staple, bionic vision, a la Geordi La Forge in Star Trek, a reality within the next few years.

But they want to go further by building a simpler, smaller, lighter and less invasive device.

Read more.

They Cry 'Apartheid,' While Israel Fast-tracks Arabs Into High-tech

"Bridge of Size" at Tel Aviv's Azrieli office towers. (Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Israel's prowess as the “startup nation” is in no small part due to a relatively small, but well-trained, workforce of engineers and technicians.

However, good intentions and a development plan will get a small company only so far if it does not have sufficient personnel to design and produce the product. Israeli technology employers need substantially more people online and on the cleanroom floor.

Turns out that the call for more, and better-trained high tech personnel dovetails well with an oft-stated, long-term goal of Israeli President Shimon Peres: to better integrate Israel's Arab sector (which makes up over 20 percent of the population) into Israeli society and the Israeli job market.

Read the rest.